Live by the glove, die by the glove. That seemed to be the motto for the Northwestern softball team in their first full weekend of conference play.
“We kind of joke about it, but it all comes down to throwing and catching,” NU coach Kate Drohan said.
No one could question the Wildcats’ vitality for the majority of the weekend. NU went 3-1 on the road trip, with only a couple of costly innings spoiling a potential four-game sweep.
“I’m so proud of how we played the entire weekend, except for the sixth and seventh innings of the second game (against Illinois on Sunday),” Drohan said. “Two innings can make a big difference in the Big Ten.”
The Cats (14-9-1, 5-1 Big Ten) chalked up wins in the first three games, sweeping Purdue (27-15, 0-6) in a Friday-Saturday series and taking the first game of a doubleheader against Illinois (21-16, 3-5) in Champaign.
NU limited its defensive miscues to a diminutive total of two while allowing only six runs in the three wins.
The Cats loaded the buses and took the trip down to West Lafayette, Ind., Thursday night with a healthy sense of confidence in tow – Drohan hinted that remaining perfect in Big Ten play would be a satisfactory result. That notion nearly became a reality, but fielding foul-ups cost the Cats in the Sunday nightcap.
NU dropped the tail end of the doubleheader to the Fighting Illini, 5-4. Two late-inning rallies were not enough to counteract the four Cats errors that led to four unearned runs for Illinois.
“She’ll (Drohan) tell us flat-out that we need to make the play,” freshman Erin Mobley said. “She’s very honest with us.”
While the Cats’ gloves were up and down, their bats were alive and well all weekend. Thirty-five NU hits in the four games resulted in 19 runs.
Junior Robyn Pettinger continued to wield a hot stick, going 6-for-13 on the weekend with three doubles.
Mobley broke out of a slump by notching four hits in 12 at-bats with a home run and four RBIs.
“(Mobley) finally started seeing the ball,” Drohan said. “I’m very pleased with her.”
NU sent only two pitchers, juniors Lauren Schwendimann and Brie Brown, to the circle all weekend, but it seemed to be all that was needed.
Schwendimann paced the duo, throwing 17.1 innings, fanning 18 and allowing only two earned runs. NU’s ace went the distance in both her starts, tossing a 2-0 shutout victory over the Illini.
Brown added a win of her own, going five strong innings against Purdue on Friday.
“The pitching put us in position to win every game,” Drohan said.
The Cats took advantage of that position early in both games against the Boilermakers, holding a 6-0 lead in the fourth inning en route to a 6-2 win Friday. NU enjoyed another 6-0 lead in the second inning on the way to a 7-4 victory Saturday.
Sunday’s loss spoiled the Cats’ perfect Big Ten record, but their 5-1 mark is still tied for second in the conference.
“Team morale is incredibly high, we’re doing phenomenal,” Mobley said. “Coming in as a freshman, I never thought we’d be in this position.”
The Daily’s Sam Hong contributed to this report.
